Frequently outgunned by cartels with heavy guns and increasingly
with drones that drop improvised explosive devices, Mexican
authorities are trying to catch up.
Concerningly, the same Chiapas state police force generated an
international diplomatic incident earlier this month when they
pursued alleged gunmen into neighboring Guatemala, engaging in
an extended shootout in the streets of border town La Mesilla.
The drones could be equipped to carry guns or to fight fires,
said Chiapas Security Secretary Óscar Aparicio Avendaño. He did
not explain what the rules of engagement would be for police
using an armed drone.
A photo shared by authorities of a demonstration showed a drone
with a semiautomatic rifle mounted below it.
In other states like Michoacan, police have begun experimenting
with ways of combatting cartel drones that drop explosives. They
try to jam signals or fire nets to drop them from the sky.
Chiapas has struggled in the past couple years with competition
between Mexico's two most powerful cartels, Sinaloa and Jalisco
New Generation, as they fight for control of lucrative smuggling
routes along the Guatemalan border for drugs, migrants and guns.
The state has seen mass displacements of people, including
hundreds who fled into Guatemala to escape cartel violence last
year.
The new state government's answer has been strengthening the
police force to be more involved in security responsibilities
previously handed to the military.
But recently, a member of the state police special forces, known
as the Pakals, turned whistleblower, saying that other members
of the force were corrupt and working with organized crime. A
commander was fired and an investigation is ongoing.
Human rights groups have questioned the bolstering of the state
police, saying that the success authorities claim could really
be the result of militarization of the region rather than any
dismantling of drug cartels.
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